LET PATIENTS USE MARIJUANA

Editor, Register-Mail: In response to the Feb. 27 letter by Tina
Gummerson, I find it troubling that she admits that "chemicals in the
cannabis plant CAN and DO have medical value," yet she does not want
patients who use this substance to be protected from prosecution. She also
does not mention vaporizers or ingesting cannabis, which are other forms
of administration that can avoid any fears of smoking cannabis or the
dangers of medical cannabis.

Plus, she fails to mention that the FDA still classifies cannabis as a
schedule 1 drug, meaning that it has no medical benefits and is highly
addictive although there has never been one documented case of an
overdose death from cannabis.

Cannabis has been used for over 3,000 years to treat pain and many
other ailments yet the federal government insists on arresting
patients that use this plant to treat their symptoms at the same time
that the regulatory agency that is supposed to protect Americans from
harmful substances is approving numerous drugs that have a plethora of
harmful side effects and potential for abuse and overdose.

Nobody has ever died from a cannabis overdose so why then are we
denying patients this potential medicine while there seems to be a
problem with the current drugs that we are giving sick people?

Research on cannabinoids is beginning to reveal that these chemicals
found in the cannabis plant can be beneficial for a number of
conditions, just as many people have testified for a number of years.

Giving sick and ill people the right to choose which medicine they
ingest should be granted in the Constitution and is inhumane to deny,
so please support Senate Bill 2865 and House Bill 5938.

Dan Linn

executive director of the Illinois Chapter of NORML

Chicago